Kelly Voeltz |
FRESNO, Calif. -- The Sacramento State volleyball team wrapped up its stay at the Fresno State Invitational in convincing fashion, sweeping both Arkansas-Little Rock (30-22, 30-12, 30-17) and Morgan State (30-23, 30-17, 30-19).With the victories, the Hornets close the tournament with a 3-1 record after defeating UMKC and losing to host Fresno State yesterday. Sacramento State is now 5-3 on the young season, as all three of the team''s losses have come in five games. Both Arkansas-Little Rock (3-3) and Morgan State (2-6) advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season.
In today''s morning victory over Arkansas-Little Rock (3-3), the Hornets hit a season-high .373 as the match ended in a swift one hour, 15 minutes. Both sophomore Lisa Beauchene and senior Kelly Voeltz recorded eight kills without an attack error. Beauchene notched a 1.000 hitting percentage as all eight of her attacks resulted in kills. In her first start of the season, junior Loretta Coffman also recorded eight kills including a team-high tying seven digs.
Sophomore Kazmiera Imrie had a team-high 11 kills and a match-high six blocks. The Trojans, who recorded just one team block during the entire match, had only one player record more than five kills (Alexandra Hepburn who notched 12). Imrie has now recorded at least four blocks in all but two matches this season. She currently leads the squad with 43 blocks (1.43 per game). Senior Tasman Dwyer tallied nine kills and a .412 hitting percentage (9-2-17). Arkansas-Little Rock allowed the Hornets hitting percentages of .275, .536 and .353 in games one through three, respectively.
In the evening victory over Morgan State, Coffman paced the Hornets with 11 kills as Sacramento State held the Lady Bears to a -.047 hitting percentage. No player on Morgan State recorded more than five kills. Coffman was the only player to reach double figures in kills as Dwyer finished with eight and Imrie with six.
Late Friday night, Sacramento State fell to host Fresno State, 3-2 (23-30, 22-30, 30-25, 32-30, 15-10), as the Hornets lost for the second time this season after winning the first two games of a match (the other coming against San Jose State).
Four Hornets recorded double figure-kills against the Bulldogs, led by Dwyer and junior Jayme Wright, who both notched 16. Senior Alison Gahr tallied 13 kills and Voeltz tied her career high with 12. Beauchene fell one kill short of her second triple-double of the year as she finished with nine kills, 10 digs and a season-high 62 assists.
After hitting .309 over the first two frames, the Hornets hit a combined .093 during the final three games. Fresno State, which hit .162 for the match, was led by Kara Verwey and Shauna McQuaid, who both recorded 13 kills.
Sacramento State, which has now won four of its last five matches, returns to action next week for four matches. The Hornets play at Santa Clara on Tuesday, Sept. 11, before travelling to Bloomington, Ind., to participate in the IU Credit Union/Taylor Sportswear Classic on Friday-Saturday, Sept. 14-15. Sacramento State will take on host Indiana on Friday before playing Ball State and Dayton on Saturday.
